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Chiropractic Care – How it Works

Chiropractic is a branch of health care that does not use drugs or surgery, but instead works to improve the function of the body, based on the fact that our bodies were designed to health themselves, as long as nothing is interfering with their natural function.

If a body is functioning normally, then it has the ability to repair from injury and even prevent disease. Whereas conventional medicine seeks to attack disease and wage war on viruses, bacteria and often the cells of the body itself, the practice of chiropractic seeks to restore balance and function to the body, which is fully equipped to destroy viruses, bacteria and even cancer cells, with no collateral damage.

The ability of the body to heal and prevent disease is largely dependent on its ability to function as it was designed. However, damage to the structure of the body will affect its ability to function. If an organ is permanently damaged through injury or surgery, it will no longer function in the manner it was meant to.

Some parts of the body are more important to your overall health than others. And when these parts are damaged or interfered with, serious health problems can result. Chiropractors focus primarily on damage to the spine.

The structure of the spine encases and protects the spinal cord, which is a vital portion of the nervous system. The nervous system is like a communication system that connects the brain with every organ and cell in the body. By relaying important information to and from the brain, the nervous system keeps the body functioning properly. This is necessary for proper health to exist.

However, when the bones of the spine are mis-aligned, due to injury, poor posture, or other reasons, the nerves can become stretched or compressed, preventing them from functioning properly. This mis-alignment is referred to as a “subluxation” which, in essence means “less than a luxation (dislocation).”

When spinal mis-alignments prevent messages from being transmitted properly through the nerves, organs and tissues no longer function properly. They can begin to function at too low or too high a level and this imbalance can produce health problems.

As an example, if the nerve impulses to your pancreas (which produces insulin to decrease blood sugar) are interfered with, the pancreas can become over-active, resulting in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), or it can become under-active, resulting in diabetes (high blood sugar). This is how the spine and nervous system affect your health.

The chiropractor’s job is to locate the area where your spine is mis-aligned and correct its structure by using a chiropractic adjustment, which is normally a gentle manipulation, or repositioning, of the vertebra (spinal bone) to relieve the pressure, tension or interference on the nerve. Once the chiropractor has corrected the subluxation, the nerve signals can once again travel freely and restore communication and balance to the part of the body they control.

As a result of the fact that the nervous system controls the entire body, and the fact that chiropractic can restore normal function to the nervous system, it follows that chiropractic care can influence the health of any part of the body and can therefore influence any health condition.

We see more and more patients who have become frustrated with the poor outcomes of medical therapy and were often told that no treatment was possible for their condition. However, evidence shows that a wide variety of health conditions can be helped by chiropractic and we see this every day in our office.

In addition to the commonly seen problems of low back pain, neck pain and whiplash, we are often able to help patients who suffer from high blood pressure, headaches and migraines, fibromyalgia, chronic pain, sleep difficulty, carpal tunnel syndrome, acid reflux, asthma, menstrual problems, infertility, and much more.

However, the starting point is always the same. It begins with thorough consultation, where the doctor gets a full history of your health, including injuries, surgeries and medications, followed by an examination, where our chiropractor will check your spine for mis-alignments that might be related to your symptoms or health condition. After putting together the information from your consultation and examination, the doctor will let you know if chiropractic can help you and, if so, will give you his recommendations for correcting your problem and restoring your health.

Because chiropractors are interested in helping the body return to and stay in the best level of function possible, they often will also include nutritional consultations and supplemental products in their care, as well as recommended exercises. Proper nutrition and exercise goes hand-in-hand with the natural health care approach of chiropractic.

To find out more about how chiropractic could benefit you, please call our office today and request an appointment to speak with one of our experienced doctors.